--- title: "2025 UK founder salaries revealed" id: "419643" type: "post" slug: "2025-uk-founder-salaries-revealed" published_at: "2025-10-27T09:02:22+00:00" modified_at: "2025-10-27T09:02:22+00:00" url: "https://seedlegals.com/resources/2025-uk-founder-salaries-revealed/" markdown_url: "https://seedlegals.com/resources/2025-uk-founder-salaries-revealed.md" excerpt: "How much should founders earn at seed stage? We've crunched the numbers on hundreds of fundraises from £50k and £1M to find out." taxonomy_category: - "Startup Guides" - "Deal Data" --- 3 min read Expert reviewed This article has been fact-checked by a SeedLegals subject matter expert. [Meet our experts](https://seedlegals.com/authors-and-experts/) and learn more about our review process and quality assurance in our [editorial policy](https://seedlegals.com/editorial-policy/) . # 2025 UK founder salaries revealed Published: Oct 27, 2025 Updated: Oct 23, 2025 Contents [How we measured founder salaries](#how-we-measured-founder-salaries) [Founder salary vs amount raised](#founder-salary-vs-amount-raised) [Vesting terms and cliff periods](#vesting-terms-and-cliff-periods) [How salaries have changed over 5 years](#how-salaries-have-changed-over-5-years) [Talk to our experienced team](#talk-to-our-experienced-team) [Expert contributor Anthony Rose Co-Founder and CEO](https://seedlegals.com/resources/author/anthony/) [Expert contributor Ben O'Rourke Lead Data Engineer](https://seedlegals.com/resources/author/ben/) [Copywriter Kaylin Sullivan Senior Copywriter](https://seedlegals.com/resources/author/kaylin/) “How much should I pay myself?” is the question every founder asks – and one investors love to weigh in on. Set the salary too low, and you’re living on instant noodles. Set it too high, and you risk raising eyebrows in the boardroom. So what’s “normal”? The truth is, there isn’t one standard founder salary. But the data does give us benchmarks. We’ve analysed UK funding rounds over the last five years to give you clear benchmarks on what founders actually pay themselves – and how those salaries shift with round size, stage, and investor expectations. ## How we measured founder salaries We analysed UK funding rounds that have closed on SeedLegals in the last 5 years and grouped them into round sizes: - **🌱 Small rounds:** < £200k - **🪴 Medium rounds:** £200k–£700k - **🌳 Large rounds:** £700k–£10m+ Each founder is counted individually, so if a company has multiple founders, we tracked each salary separately. > When we break the data down by round size and stage, it shows a clear picture of what’s happening in the market. UK funding rounds on SeedLegals make up a large, representative sample of the market with reliable salary data, so it reflects what founders are actually paying themselves right now. > > [Ben O'Rourke](https://seedlegals.com/resources/author/ben/) > Lead Data Engineer, > > [SeedLegals](https://seedlegals.com/) > > - [https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjorourke/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjorourke/) ## Founder salary vs amount raised Unsurprisingly, salaries increase as round size goes up. Here’s the 2025 data: - **Small rounds (<£200k):** founders keep salaries low – around £25k–£40k is common, with many founders not taking a salary at all. - **Medium rounds (£200k–£700k):** salaries typically rise into the £40k–£60k range. - **Large rounds (£700k+):** founders are more likely to pay themselves £80k–£100k+. That said, there’s a wide range. Even at larger rounds, plenty of founders still take minimal pay (trading salary for runway and equity), while others move closer to market-level salaries. ### How this stacks up against the wider market For context: the average UK software engineer earns between £41k – £66k ([sources)](#article-sources) , while senior roles in London push past £80k. A founder raising a Series A or beyond is paying themselves at a level broadly comparable to their senior hires. Want more data on UK startup salaries? Check out our article, [How much should I pay my team? UK startup salaries revealed.](https://seedlegals.com/resources/uk-startup-salaries/) ## Vesting terms and cliff periods Salary is only one part of the equation. Equity structures are just as critical. To avoid founders taking the money and retiring, investors usually require that founders ‘reverse vest’ their shares over a number of years. Reverse vesting means that if a founder leaves during the vesting period, they need to transfer back the unvested shares. Even if their shares are fully vested before the round, investors will often ask for a new vesting schedule to dissuade the founders from leaving right after their investment. Here’s what the data shows about founder vesting: - More than half of founders have their shares subject to vesting. Only in smaller rounds do we see that ‘no vesting’ is very slightly more common. - 3- and 4-year vesting periods are by far the most common across all round sizes, with ‘3 years’ and ‘no cliff’ being the most common. - 1-2 year or 5-year vesting is rare, appearing in fewer than 10% of cases. - Some very early-stage founders still skip vesting altogether or adopt shorter cliffs (6 months). > Vesting protects co-founders and investors if something goes wrong and a founder leaves. Investors want to know founders are committed to the company and won’t walk away with a big chunk of equity. Founders want to keep their stock if they leave the company. Vesting is the compromise and keeps the business investable. > > [Anthony Rose](https://seedlegals.com/resources/author/anthony/) > Co-founder & CEO, > > [SeedLegals](https://seedlegals.com/) > > - [https://www.linkedin.com/in/anrose/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/anrose/) A ‘cliff’ is a period of time you have to wait before your shares start vesting. **Read more on vesting:** - [Founder vesting: reasons why it’s important](https://seedlegals.com/resources/startup-founder-vesting/) - [Shares and option vesting explained](https://help.seedlegals.com/en/4351214-shares-and-option-vesting-explained) ## How salaries have changed over 5 years Between 2020 and 2025, founder pay has risen steadily across all round sizes: - **Small rounds (<£200k):** increase from £30k to £50k - **Medium rounds(£200k- £700k):** increase from £40k to £55k - **Large rounds (>£700k+):** increase from £60k to £83.7k **More expert insights from SeedLegals data** Keen for more expert analysis into what’s really going on across UK startups? Check out more of our free, exclusive reports: 🥧 [Options report: option scheme trends, decoded by our experts](https://seedlegals.com/reports/share-options-report/) 🤝 [Termometer: the UK’s deepest analysis of early-stage deal terms](https://seedlegals.com/termometer/) 💰 [Funding report: how much are startups raising and how?](https://seedlegals.com/reports/uk-funding-report/) ## Talk to our experienced team Raising? Got questions about funding, equity or share option schemes? Book a free call with our team. We’d love to answer your questions and find out how we can help. - Article Sources - PayScale UK: [Software Engineer salaries](https://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Software_Engineer/Salary) — median ~£41,412 - Glassdoor UK:[Software Engineer salaries](https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salaries/software-engineer-salary-SRCH_KO0%2C17.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com) — average ~£55,130 - Salary.com UK:[Software Engineer salaries](https://www.salary.com/research/uk/software-engineers-salary?utm_source=chatgpt.com) — average ~£66,427 Data revealed: UK option schemes trends 2025 Get exclusive insights into how other startups structure their schemes, and why. Fundraising tips from investors Insider insights from active VCs and angels. Learn how to sidestep common pitch pitfalls, and make a stellar first impression. ## Related posts [4 min read How to create a financial forecast: This is what startup investors need to see ‘How much money should we ask for?’ It’s one of the most challenging questions startup founders face when raising equity... Hatty Fawcett](https://seedlegals.com/resources/financial-forecasting-for-startups/) [4 min read How much should I pay my team? UK startup salaries revealed As a founder, getting your team’s pay right can feel like a guessing game - but it doesn’t have to be. In this post, we ... Kirsty MacSween](https://seedlegals.com/resources/uk-startup-salaries/) [9 min read 10 essential legal documents for UK startups Learn what these essential documents are for and why you need them to start, run and grow your business. Kaylin Sullivan](https://seedlegals.com/resources/legal-documents-for-uk-startups/)